My pick is the Showdown.

Serving the best Bloody Mary's since 1972.

My vote is the TAVERN! I would start at Grins and just walk over to finish up the night.

We need a gentleman's club in san marcos

Yeah right. The city wouldn't even let Hooters come in, you think they are going to allow a strip joint.

I voted for Cheatham Street. Who can argue with the birthpace of George Strait's music career??

I didn't spend as much time at Cheatam Street and the Tavern back in "the day", so I have to say no contest...Showdown. Was the best in '82-'85 and it's still the best pre and post game spot in town. If something works...don't tinker with it...the bar is the best.

I am glad some of those "nappy" t's were taken down from the ceiling...I could swear I remembered some of those from '85? Surely not? Spud's McKenzie above the bar is a classic tribute to my day...

i'm wondering if we ever crossed paths there. who knows...

If you were there on a Sunday...we crossed paths. For a good hangover, Herberts for breakfast, followed by a bloody mary and sports at Showdown. Both institutions still standing...don't mess with success.

How about Pat McGee's in "the day"...they used to give away so much free keg beer at the campus location (man have times changed)...they should get a mention!!! I'm throwing in a write in vote!

i never knew why pat mcgee's closed. herberts is still around, but it's not quite as good as i remember. (although it's not bad.)

the best place to go to get drunk on the cheap back then was "the coast" -- a roller rink during the day and a big country bar at night. thursdays was quarter pitcher night. it was old milwaukee, but it was cheap -- and after the first pitcher, nobody cared.

my buddies and i met some freshman there one night shortly after he started to school. the bathroom line was so long that lots of us would just go outside to piss on the dark side of the building. well, that night police came around to the side and shined flashlights on everybody. most of us made it back inside without a problem, but the kid we had met got thrown in jail for disorderly conduct or some such. he was wearing a big cowboy hat and just couldn't blend back into the crowd. first week on campus and he's arrested. i never could figure out what great crime the police thought they were preventing.

Very nice...forgot about that joint...too far out of the way though. How about Jeremiah's 25 cent kamakazee's...good memories...well, some of them anyway...green projectile "kamakazee" is never a good thought from any era...

axtman:

Me and alot of my friends on the baseball team used to "Coast".

That was indeed an institution. It was a snatch "blue light" special every Thursday night.

Cool, forgot that place.

I can't vote on this at all. My favorite bar wasn't even included. Rocky LaRues. But I have to admit that when I do go back I spend my time at J's Bistro, the new piano bar thats owned by the same guys from Rocky's.

jeremiah's wooden nickel was the first bar i went to when i got to san marcos. weird that it closed. it was always packed.

yeah the coast was fun. and they played a lot of george strait.

well, if that was the mid-80s, you might have known a roommate of mine who was on the baseball team. i think '85 was the first year for the program.

ok they weren't bars, but as long as we're bringing up stories from the past...

when i first moved to san marcos, there were two or three "massage parlors" in town. folks used to joke about legislators and lobbyists in austin who would drive down to san marcos for a "massage." my first week there, a friend and i were walking downtown past one of those places and saw a "help wanted" sign in the window. we pretended to be clueless rubes looking for a job just so we could see what it was like inside. (i was as innocent as you could get back in those days, so pretending to be clueless wasn't a stretch.) anyway, she kindly informed us that the job was "for women only." a gal sitting in the lounge saw us come in and made her way to the back, thinking she had a customer. we looked around a minute and then left, saving my honor at least a little longer.

Did you just say there's a piano bar in San Marcos? I've got to go to this place.